Aphrodite Pudica

myminifactory

The head, the arms from the biceps and the legs from the middle of the thighs as well as the lower part of the support are cut off. Two cuts of the right hand on the left breast, and one of the left hand in the left groin (here there is an indentation and a pinhole). Small chips on both balls and scrapes on the back. Iron studs under the arms and in the neck, which are now drilled out, show that the statue has been restored. The underside of the support, both legs and a chip on the front of both legs as well as the arm stumps are chipped with a dental chisel for restoration. The surface is finely smoothed. A nude woman with a short waist and high hips rested on her left leg with her right slightly forward. She bends slightly forward, and the right shoulder is lifted and brought slightly forward in relation to the left. The left leg was supported by an object over which a cloth is laid. The torso belongs to the type called the Capitoline Venus after a statue in the Musei Capitolini in Rome. This Aphrodite is represented at the bath, having placed her cloak on a large water-vessel by her side; she looks to the left and holds her right hand under her breasts and her left over her lap. The type is known in many copies in various formats (Felletti Maj listed 101 copies) and was a favorite statue in the villas and gardens of the well-to-do Romans. There is great disagreement about the dating and about a possible model for the type. It has been attributed to the great masters of the 4th and 3rd centuries, but none of the copies can be dated before 100 BC. Perhaps the type was first developed at the end of the 2nd century, inspired by Praxiteles' Aphrodite Knidia from the 4th century, the first naked Aphrodite. Precisely in that period, the naked Aphrodite types became common, and the older Knidia type had a renaissance, perhaps in connection with a new arrangement on Knidos. Aphrodite Pudica, the blushing one, emphasizes the erotic aspect of the presentation by holding her hands to her breast and lap without covering them. The head IN 1459 is believed to be a production of a similar type. A statue of the same type and bearing a portrait of a Roman matron is IN 711. Here the feet of a small Eros/Cupid are seen next to Venus (IN 711 from the time of Emperor Trajan).